http://www.commondreams.org/news2003/0812-11.htm
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AUGUST 12, 2003, 3:55 PM
CONTACT: The Green
Party of the United States
Nancy Allen 207-326-4576 nallen@acadia.net
Scott McLarty 202-518-5624 mclarty@greens.org
As Global Warming Accelerates, Greens Demand Action, Blast Bush's
EPA Choice
WASHINGTON - August 12 - Citing indications that global warming
may be accelerating, Greens in the U.S. and around the world have
called for the Kyoto Accords to be renegotiated.
Greens are demanding
that the U.S. lead the world in measures
to curtail global warming, with stronger curbs on greenhouse
gas emissions, elimination of tradeable pollution credits,
and increased efforts to reduce fossil fuel dependence and
convert to clean, renewable energy such as solar and wind energy.
The Global Green Charter (http://www.global.greens.org.au/charter.htm)
endorsed by Greens around the world, has called for similar wide-ranging
measures, including carbon taxes on fossil fuel use.
According to The New
York Times (August 12), Utah Gov.
Michael Leavitt, President Bush's nominee for EPA chief,
opposed the Kyoto treaty; many Greens are urging Democrats
to filibuster Leavitt's confirmation.
"Scientists from
the U.K.-based Institute for Public Policy
Research, the World Meteorological Organization, and the
U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change claim that
manmade global climate change seems to be proceeding much
faster than earlier expected," said Lorna Salzman, a New
York
Green and candidate for the national party's presidential
nomination. "We've begun to see the result -- extreme weather
around the world, especially the record-breaking deadly
heatwave in Europe, with depleted water resources, forest
fires, rapidly melting Alpine glaciers, and an agricultural
crisis."
Greens note that the
effect will be further aggravated
by rapid melting of the Arctic permafrost, by the possible
collapse of the western Antarctic ice shelf, and by policies
like President Bush's 'Healthy Forests' proposal, which
would allow timber companies to mow down millions of acres
of public forestlands.
"This isn't a
local environmental problem that can be
cleaned up next week, but the global ecological and
political crisis of the 21st century," said Jake Schneider,
treasurer of the Green Party of the United States.
"But it's hardly on the table for Democratic and Republican
candidates or in media coverage of the 2004 election.
If we judge from the Clinton and Bush administrations
and the 2004 campaigns, it will make minimal difference
to the advancement of climate change whether a Democrat
or Republican is elected."
In November 2000, under
pressure from the energy industry,
President Clinton's delegation at the Hague conference
obstructed enactment of the Kyoto Accord's minimal steps
to scale back global warming. In March 2001, President Bush
withdrew from Kyoto entirely after pledging as a candidate
to support the agreement.
"The Kyoto agreement
undermined its own goals by allowing
'horse-trading' of pollution credits by industry, which
will inadequately slow greenhouse gas emissions -- but even
Kyoto's modest measures were unacceptable to oil companies,"
said Mark Dunlea, chair of the Green Party of New York State.
Greens sharply criticized
the Senate's bipartisan defeat
in July of a Title 49 amendment to require automakers
to produce a fleet average of 40 miles per gallon by 2015.
"There's no way
to begin addressing global warming
-- or security for America -- without changing fuel
consumption, which means imposing fuel efficiency rules
on the auto industry," said Alan Muller, Executive Director
of Green Delaware, a community-based organization working
on environment and public health issues, and Green Party
member.
While Congress surrenders
to energy, oil, and car lobbies,
Bush policy on global warming is informed by industry-funded
think tanks like the George C. Marshall Institute and the
Competitive Enterprise Institute, as well as the American
Petroleum Institute. As a result, the Bush Administration
has deluded Americans into thinking that there's no scientific
consensus that manmade greenhouse gases are aggravating
climate change. It's a failure of environmental policy
and democracy. Greens will make this a major theme of
our local and national campaigns in 2004."
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